


Ghouls Suck

by 1nceGivenUp_NeverRegained



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, This is based off of aa's Ghost story, armin is only really mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 10:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3725440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1nceGivenUp_NeverRegained/pseuds/1nceGivenUp_NeverRegained
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I'm running out of time and I can't leave him again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghouls Suck

**Author's Note:**

> Write a piece about someone who’s running out of food, water, or air. Ghost Story!Jeanmarco  
> The prompt is from apromptadaykeepsthecriticsaway and the fic that this is based from is Ghost Story by avoidingavoidance you should check it and its sequel out!

I am running out of time. This space only has so much air in it and I’m about to start hyperventilating. Breathe, Jean. Come on.

How did I get in here? That doesn’t fucking matter anymore. I can’t call for help, and that fucking asshole of a ghoul thought chaining me to the bottom of this pool was a good idea. I hold on to the hope that Marco will figure out the clues that- Hell, I hope and pray that the ghoul actually left the clues that he said he did. Either way, I’m probably dead.

For real this time, too. That’s the suckiest part. Something tells me that Christa can’t bring me back from this one and make everything okay as I’m complete or whatever that shit was. She’s busy looking for Ymir when she isn’t on shift at the hospital anyway. Levi might be able to hear me.

I try broadcasting my location across every psychic frequency I can think of, imagining a phone, and imagining Levi on the other end. I start yelling where I am, and what is going on. ‘Bring something that cuts through a shit ton of metal quickly.’ I send.

But it’s useless. My thoughts redirect to Marco. He’s supposed to be at church right now. He probably doesn’t even know I’m gone yet. By the time he realizes that I was taken, I’ll be dead at the bottom of this pool. I feel kinda bad for whoever is gonna come in in the morning and find my hellish corpse, which will be bloated as hell by then.

My arms start to shake from holding the boat down, holding my only air source as close to my head as I can. Part of me wants to let it go, see if I’m actually in the shallow end and I actually don’t need the fucking boat. That would be the kind of shit a ghoul would pull, and I did get disoriented when I was being chained down. Really, though, can you blame me?

I know I can’t hold this much longer. If help is gonna come, help needs to come. My thoughts wander back to Marco, wander back to his face as he sleeps, when he laughs, when he calls my name from across the apartment because ‘Jean! There’s a huge spider!’ and I just laugh because he has faced so many things worse than a spider and yet he remains terrified of them.

I remember when we saved the world after only having known each other for a few days, and then I left him alone for weeks. I can’t do that again. I can’t leave Marco alone again.

This creates a new resolve. I look down, trying to examine the chain wrapped around my leg, looking for a way to get out of it. The hundred pound weight was magnified by the amount of water pushing on it, but as I rattle the chain the sound is muffled and fucked from under the water, its movements sluggish. But, the chain is looser than I remember, and it’s rusty, I can see flakes coming off of it. A sudden rush of hope seizes me as I wiggle my leg more, my shoe slipping off, making it easier for the chain to begin the slide southward off of my leg.

The hope started draining as I felt myself becoming more and more lightheaded, and I sank a centimeter or two. My heart started racing as the edges of my vision started to blur and darken. Shit. I’m running out of air. I might have a few seconds of air and consciousness left.

The chain slips off and I want to yell, but instead, I suck in whatever air is left in the small space created by the dingy and dive down and out, pushing off the bottom of the pool, the air looking miles away. My hand hooks onto the edge of the pool, and my shaking arm pulls me up, quickly joined by the other. The second my head breaks the surface I gasp in air, trying to replenish the lost supply.

I weakly haul myself up onto the deck, joy flooding me as I see my phone about five feet away. Trying to get as little water on it as possible, I punched in Marco’s number and put it on speaker, rolling to lay on my back, gasping in air.

“Hello? Jean?!” The familiar voice is filled with an unfortunately similarly familiar note of worry and panic. Marco must have gotten home from church early. Huh.

“Marco... Wanna come get me?” I stutter weakly, still sucking air like I was dying, which, to be fair, I was as of a few seconds ago. “You might need Levi to find me. I have no fucking clue where I am.”

“Are you alright? I got home and there wasn’t a note and you were gone and the ward was split in half by a huge gouge and-” I cut him off.

“I’m fine, babe. Well, I am now. I was drowning a minute ago, but I’m okay now. Ghoul abducted me somehow and chained me to the bottom of a pool. Did a shit job of it, but I had a boat with an air bubble, so I’m okay.” I can just see his face, he’s probably crying. I feel bad, I want to make him stop, but I can’t, not from here. I can also tell Marco is on the move, heading for Target where Levi always is at this time. I can hear the sounds of Trost around him as he walks. “Wanna bring a towel or six, please? I’m fucking cold and wet. I might get back in the shallow end of the pool to stay warm.” I state into the phone, hearing a watery chuckle. I smile. Good, he can still laugh, I guess that convinced him that I’m okay for now. Sarcasm in really hard when I’m dying. Or used to be, I kinda got used to it, which should tell you something about my job.

“Of course, I will. I’ll get some while I’m finding Levi.” I hear a door open, then the assorted sounds of the store. I hear a shout of, ‘Erwin! Levi! I have him! Kind of.’ and figure that he found the pair. Then Levi’s deadpan fills my ear.

“Where the hell are you?” He demands, jumping straight to the point. It’s kind of soothing, simply because I’m used to it.

“No idea.” I respond, staring around the room for something to indicate whose pool this is. There is a logo that I missed and what the fuck. “Wait... I’m in fucking Jinae. How am I in... and why does this school have perfectly chlorinated pool?” The logo was for Jinae High School, an insignia I only knew because Marc had shown me a while ago, which didn’t make sense. Ghouls can’t transport that far with human companions. How the hell? And why? Why is it always Marco’s hometown? I don’t want him to have to come back. This place has some fucked up memories for him.

“Jean. Calm down.” Right, talking to a psychic. I need to remember that. “Do you want me to shake him? Make him stay behind?” He is quiet, probably making sure Marco can’t hear. “No. Just make sure he knows where he’s going. I don’t want him to come if he doesn’t want to step foot in this ghost town again.” I hear a shuffle on the other end of the phone, and suddenly Marco is speaking rather sternly into the phone.

“I’m coming and no one can stop me. I don’t care if you’re in the fault. I’m coming to get you.” I smile, that sounds like Marco. “I also know where you are exactly in the town, so I can help them find you faster.” My smile is soft, only he would be willing to do something hellish for me. Well, maybe Armin, but like hell Marco would let him do it alone. The day my fiance doesn’t come to save my dumb ass is the day I get worried. I realize that Marco was talking to me and interrupt. “What? Sorry, babe, I spaced.” I hear him sigh. “We’re on our way. It’ll be about ten minutes with how Levi is driving.” I know Levi’s driving, they must be afraid of either the ghoul coming back or me freezing to death. I think hypothermia is closer than the fucker that put me here.

“I’m not moving. I’ll be here.” I pause. “Stay?” He knows what I mean. even having a silent phone with Marco on the other end is better than silence and my own thoughts.

“Of course. You don’t have to ask.” I can see his face, just like the first time I asked him that, the first of my panic/PTSD attacks he ever experienced, okay, maybe less confusion and helplessness. Silence reigns over the phone for a bit before I start singing. Marco had introduced me to more of the hipster shit that Armin always listens to.

The Ellie Goulding flows from my lips easily, Marco humming along occasionally. Recently, after recovering an old and beaten guitar, I started to learn, discovering Marco’s innate singing ability. We now sing whenever we can. My shivers start to enter my voice no matter what I do to prevent them. I know he hears, letting him think that I don’t despite the fact that I can hear him telling Levi,

“Take this corner fast, believe me, it isn’t as sharp as it seems. And drive faster, it’s a straight road for a few miles from here.” I smile, he’s coming. Marco is always warm, no matter how cold the apartment is, Marco is a freaking furnace. I miss our bed, a warm mess of blankets and body warmth. “Jean. We’re coming in. Which pool are you in? Is it big?” I lean my head to a side, seeing a seemingly infinite expanse of water.

“I’d say, yeah.” I murmur, not even sure if the phone caught the lethargic reply. I’ve been getting slower and slower, cold and tired. I know that that is dangerous, but I can’t get myself to move. A bang echoed through the echo-y room, the door bending. “I think it’s locked, babe.” I murmur, hearing Marco through the door.

“Jean, Jean, love, stay awake for me. Come on. Wouldn’t you rather be warm and sleep than cold?” I grunt, not really caring too much anymore. I turn my head over to face the door, eyes closed, mouth open slightly. The doors break, the ancient lock shattering, and Marco races through them. I don’t see him because of my closed eyes. But I hear him, I hear his feet as he runs, my brain absently thinking about how, ‘You aren’t supposed to run in a pool, Marco. You’ll hurt yourself.’ “Jean. Oh my god. Jean, come on, eyes open.” I struggle with my eyelids, negotiating with them, promising that they wouldn’t have to be open for too long.

“Mar-o?” Fuck, my speech is going. Apparently it’s a hell of a lot colder in here than I thought. Fucking February. I feel a blanket being wrapped around me as I’m lifted. Another one is placed over me as I nuzzle into Marco’s neck, trying to absorb all of his warmth while still leaving some for him. His warmth is one of the things that makes him Marco, and I don’t want to take that from him.

“It’s okay, Jean. I’ve got you. You’ll be okay.” I feel myself sat up in the backseat of a car, complaining in mumbles as Marco disappears for a moment. He suddenly reappears at my side, pulling me closer as I curl into his side, feeling another, larger blanket wrapping both of us up, closing all warmth in. My amazing fiance is holding me as close as he can, lips pressed to the top of my head, words being muttered into my wet, limp hair. I don’t know why he puts up with me, but he does and like hell am I complaining.

I think I fall asleep at some point because I wake up in our bed with a warm body next to me. Sunlight slips into the room around closed blinds. I’m still cold, but I’m also in warmer, dry clothes, he must have done that. I curl into Marco more, hiding under his arm and burying my face in his chest. He stirs, arms tightening around me as he wakes. Beautiful brown eyes meet mine, a gentle smile spreading across his face as he sees me.

“‘M cold. Why is it cold?” I complain, typical me, he saves my fucking life and here I am complaining. He chuckles warmly, tucking my head under his chin.

“You almost drowned in what has always been the coldest pool and building in this part of the world. It’s a miracle that you don’t have hypothermia.” I sigh and curse the ghoul that did that. “We need to get you warmer. Annie stressed that. Think you can take a shower or something?” I nod slightly, the idea of warmth and steam appealing to me.

“Bath. Don’t wanna stand.” I mutter, sounding childish. He nods and stands, ignoring my complaints, to scoop me up. Marco presses a kiss to my lips, one that I do my best to reciprocate. He carries me upstairs, the weight training that I convinced him to do paying off. He deposits me on the closed toilet and leaves, coming back with two pairs of sweatpants and a couple of our warmest sweatshirts.

“Come on.” He says after running the bath, gesturing for me to come over. Regretfully, I strip out of my warm clothing and step toward him, he helps me into the tub. When after a moment it’s still just me in here, I reach out my arms for him like a child. Marco gets the point, removing his own layers and climbing in behind me. I lay down, back to his chest, and lay my head back, eyes closed, finally warm for the first time since I was taken, comfortable. I can feel Marco cleaning me off, this time there isn’t blood, or ash, or tar, just more of a habit than to actually clean me.

“I love you.” I state suddenly, almost absently. “I don’t say that enough. I realized that when I was under there.” I feel his lips press against my head, hear him murmur a reply. I turn my head, asking for a kiss, he quickly meets me halfway, kissing me softly, an unspoken message that there will be time for desperate reassurances that I’m alright later, when I’m warm. Before I can fall back asleep, he helps me out and helps me dry and dress, carrying me back to our bed.

We sleep again, curled in a messy cocoon of blankets, not even a centimeter between us. The world is blocked outside and we just sleep, clinging like starfish to prevent anything from getting between us. The fact that I don’t have nightmares, which are standard after jobs, especially one where one of us is hurt, is a testament to having Marco with me. We will face the world tomorrow. I’ll call Levi tomorrow and explain what I understand of what happened. Maybe someone will stop by, Christa or someone, and Marco can make me food, I’m not afraid to use this thing to get as much food as possible. Tomorrow, I’ll talk to Marco and then Levi about quitting. But for now, we’ll sleep, and twine together until there isn’t any space left. Now, we’ll murmur lyrics at each other blearily and giggle like we’re drunk because we’re tired and we’re in love. Now, we’ll be happy, now, we’ll just love.

**Author's Note:**

> God, I haven't posted on here in forever. I hope you guys like this!


End file.
